1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a warhead which is deliverable through the intermediary of a carrier, and which incorporates aerodynamic guiding and braking media and forwardly oriented striking pins for initiating a detonating information for an explosive which is contained or dammed by a hollow-cylindrical wall structure with shallow-concavely curved coverings.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Warheads of that type are known in the configuration of carrier projectiles or missiles for bomblets with jet-forming hollow charge inserts; for instance, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. 4,488,488; or as the artillery rocket system MLRS-1 for the delivery of bomblets over a previously reconnoitered target area. The effectiveness of each individual bomblet upon impact against a semi-hard to hard armored target object is, in essence, relatively slight; however, at a dense covering of a target area with bomblets, there may be expected a multiple-hit effect in a target object with a correspondingly enhanced cumulative effect in the target.
In a warhead concept of that type it is especially disadvantageous that the intended multiple-effect necessitates an extremely dense distribution of the bomblets over the target object, in which the target objects which are actually to be attacked are only present at some distances from each other. The dense delivery can also lead to erroneous or unintended detonations which are caused by collisions between bomblets during their descent into the target area. However, above all, the effectiveness of such types of bomblet warheads possessing jet-forming hollow charges reduces itself quite drastically when they are deployed against target objects which are in a protected condition, such as; for instance, against armored vehicles and roadways under a light natural or artificial covering such as protective roof structures, as shown in German Laid-Open Patent Appln. No. 33 37 115, or under trees.
Hereby, even the light lattice work of a camouflage installation or the branches of a tree, in response to the impact of a bomblet possessing jet-forming hollow charge-inserts, will lead to the triggering thereof and, as a consequence, to a dissipation of their effectiveness from the standpoint of the ammunition technology at some distance above the target object which is actually of interest.
On the other hand, one has to proceed from the assumption that enemy formations prepare themselves in departure and staging areas for their employment in, which combat areas, through the intermediary of forests, functional structures simulating towns or locales and camouflage measures, are optimally protected against reconnaissance surveillances, and thereby also against the action of usual bomblet ammunition. Also material ordinarily employed in large quantities, the utilization of which are important (such, as ammunition and fuel), and in the case of their deployment, cannot be carried along under heavy protective structures, but they are bound to storage depots which are underfield or combat conditions, for which there is utilized to the greatest possible extent, the available natural or the rapidly assemblable artificial lightweight protective condition.